The invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for use in conjunction with a record carrier in the form of a tape contained in a cassette which has at least one aperture for withdrawing the record carrier from said cassette and which can be inserted into the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a tape-guide drum around whose circumferential surface the record carrier, which has been withdrawn from the cassette, can be wrapped at least partly and a tape-guide device for withdrawing the record carrier from the cassette and wrapping it around the tape-guide drum. This kind of apparatus will be referred to as a helical scan cassette recorder.
More particularly, the invention relates to such an apparatus in which the tape-guide device comprises two levers which are pivotable about two parallel pivotal axes. The levers overlap each other in an area of overlap which varies as they are pivoted. Each carries at least one tape guide which is adapted to cooperate with the record carrier, and can be pivoted, by means of a driving device, between a rest position, in which the tape guides are located behind the record carrier in the cassette at the location of the aperture in said cassette, and an operating position, in which the tape guides keep the record carrier, which is taken along when the levers are pivoted from their rest positions to their operating positions, wrapped around the tape-guide drum. The levers are coupled to each other by a coupling device which acts directly on the levers for coordinating their pivotal movements. Such a helical scan cassette recorder is for example known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,936.
The coordination of the pivotal movements of the two levers is important because the two levers and the tape guides which they carry should be moved between their rest positions and their operating positions with a coordinated movement which is as uniform as possible. Smooth motion is required to ensure that the record carrier is not subjected to an undesired load during movement of the levers. Also, to guarantee a correct and undisturbed operation they must reach their operating positions or their rest positions at the same time. In the apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,936 the two levers are therefore coupled to each other by a coupling device comprising a cable, the cable being connected to the two levers at fixed points of attachment. When such a coupling device is used, as a result of the constant length of the cable and the fixed points of attachment of the cable to the two levers, the two levers behave similarly in each stage of their actuating movements, so that their pivotal movements cannot be adapted to each other arbitrarily. Further, mounting such a cable is comparatively intricate and ageing of the cable may have an adverse effect on the reliability of operation.